Anti-corruption war needs fresh thinking

Weeks of unbroken coverage of Dasukigate, a riveting financial scandal soap opera, have given the impression the Muhammadu Buhari presidency has either nothing else to do or that it believes the

social, economic and political problems of Nigeria are anchored on corruption. The scale of the stealing is truly frightening, and even reckless. No sector is spared. The security services are involved; so too are the media, especially media moguls, banks, civil service, and the rest. By the time the probes shift to the oil industry, perhaps many more horrible ogres would be unearthed. When the probes expire naturally, with public and government interest drained of shock and excitement, and giddy spectators are disillusioned to discover that everyone is involved at one level or the other, the government may be forced to shift attention and begin confronting other national problems that have become unresponsive to conservative measures.

Even now, the only approach adopted by the government is to probe the corrupt, publish the sordid facts, with the attendant risk of engaging in media trial, shock and awe a disbelieving public and stir them into general indignation, and hope that such naming and shaming and cajoling looters to disgorge their loots will both discourage future looting and deter looters from savouring the joy of looting. After a few weeks of frenzied pursuit of some of the looters, the government may be contemplating the quieter option of plea bargaining. Soon, the government will have to de-emphasise celebrating the anti-corruption war and reduce or subject it to the quiet and efficient routine it is supposed to be. The government has so far seemed to ignore other more pressing and damaging problems confronting the country. Now, given the urgency of those other problems, such as falling naira value, forex crisis, massive job cuts, general economic decline, and looming social chaos, the government may find that its refusal or inability to multitask has dangerously triggered national paralysis.

It is time to quit exhibitionism, for that is what the anti-corruption war has become. Let the relevant anti-graft agencies do their work; but more importantly, let the government also boldly and comprehensively tackle the suffocating and disintegrating economy. The economic problems are not only very real, they cannot wait until the government finishes its anti-corruption war. Bold and innovative measures are required, but it is not clear from all the feelers coming out of government that the Buhari presidency has the stomach and the intellect to emplace these countermeasures. The government has seemed to be trapped in the jaded panaceas of the past, afraid to think revolutionarily or to experiment. The government has inundated the country with too much silence over the problems, whether social, economic or political. Nothing is coming out, even as new problems and complications are pursuing hard on the heels of the government’s feeble measures.

More crucially, after weeks of excitement over the startling disclosures in the anti-corruption war, the Buhari government must enunciate fresh thinking on the subject. So far, he has tackled only the symptoms. It is time to go to the roots, the political economy of corruption. Tackling the symptoms of corruption, which involves unmasking only a few corrupt officials, the so-called big thieves, and punishing them to serve as deterrent, will not fundamentally curb corruption or even reduce it substantially. Few, if any, among those writing commentaries on corruption or rejoicing over those unmasked can stand close scrutiny. Those who receive small gratifications in unimportant and sometimes nondescript offices are as guilty as those who steal billions. Their mindsets are essentially the same; only the scale differs.

If President Buhari does not examine closely the factors that predispose the country to corruption, whatever he does now will only be temporary; nothing more than tilting at windmills. He must seek answers to what the nature of Nigeria’s social and economic relations is; he must ask how the country’s polity was structured and sustained in such a way that allows patronage, paternalism and other vices to fester; and he must ask in particular how on earth he wants to do the magic of banishing corruption among those whose wages can neither take them home nor fund family challenges such as children’s education, health, transport and energy needs, etc. The malaise that troubles the ordinary citizen, they must not forget, also troubles the country’s security agencies. The simple truth is that as the country is currently structured, corruption can neither be banished nor tamed. It is impossible. As the anti-graft agencies are exposing corruption at the symptom level, and enjoying media blitz and hypocritical stone-throwing, let President Buhari more importantly focus on corruption’s political economy if he really wants to leave a legacy.

Thenation